Draft amendments to the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program won approval Thursday by a 6-2 vote during a special meeting of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

Oregon Council members Joan Dukes and Melinda Eden voted against offering the draft document for public comment, citing what they felt are deficiencies in the plan.

The majority vote moves the process into the next phase -- a 60-day public comment period that ends Oct. 30. Public hearings will also be held across the basin over the next two months.

NPCC Fish and Wildlife Director Tony Grover said that the draft amendments will likely be available online by Tuesday. Information about the amendment process is posted at www.nwcouncil.org/amend.

"We'll all have a cut at it again," NPCC Chair Bill Booth, Idaho, said of ongoing disagreements about elements of the draft. After the public comment period ends, that input will be reviewed and the Council will shape final amendments. The goal is to accomplish that task by December.

"We will pay attention to the comments we receive," Booth said.

Eden said the draft amendments' Columbia/Snake River mainstem hydro system provisions are "inconsistent with the position that Oregon has taken" in Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion litigation. The federal BiOp released in May has been challenged by the state in U.S. District Court as being inadequate to protect salmon and steelhead stocks that are listed under the Endangered Species Act. The state of Oregon is one of the parties that has filed a complaint and request for summary judgment requiring a rewrite of the federal plan.

(For more information about Oregon’s BiOp position go to “Oregon Asks Court To Throw Out New Biological Opinion For Salmon, Steelhead” at http://www.cbbulletin.com/288973.aspx CBB, 7/25/08)

As it now stands, the Council's draft amendments would "recognize" the 2008 FCRPS BiOp provisions and other federal plans "as containing the baseline objectives and measures for the mainstem portion of the Council's fish and wildlife program."

Because the BiOp is ESA-focused and the Council program is responsible for mitigating for impacts to all fish and wildlife affected by hydro power development in the basin, the draft amendments describe "broader planning considerations" and "identify additional objectives and measures…."

"There's a lot of good stuff in this draft we're going to put out," Dukes said. But she said she could not support it because of its failure to show the proper deference to fish and wildlife managers.

"On three major policy issues they have spoken with strong recommendations," she said. In each case those recommendations are either not included or are drastically changed in the draft, she said. As an example, language long included in the program has an objective of boosting the annual salmon and steelhead adult return to 5 million by 2025.

The draft notes that fish and wildlife managers wanted that the quantitative goal to remain. But it does not use the numbers as a specific program goal.

The amendment process began in November with a formal call for recommendations, as required by the Northwest Power Act. The full program was last amended in 2000, though the Council did update the Columbia/Snake river "mainstem" section of the program in 2003. In 2004-2005 the Council adopted 57 subbasin plans into the program.

The Council, which includes two members each from the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, was created via 1980's Northwest Power Act. It is charged with creating a "program" to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the hydro system. Federal agencies are required to act in a manner “consistent” with the fish and wildlife program.

The program outlines goals, objectives, a scientific foundation and actions.

The Council accepted amendment recommendations until Feb. 1, drawing 65 submittals from federal, state and tribal fish and wildlife managers and other agencies, power interests, irrigation districts, municipalities, conservation and fishing groups, individuals and other entities.

Time was then allowed to submit comments on those recommendations.

The Council Program has been funded in recent years at $143 million for "expense" and $36 million for capital projects annually. Included are projects intended to improve spawning and rearing habitat for fish, build and maintain hatcheries, acquire and protect wildlife habitat, and fund research into key scientific uncertainties.

The program is funded by the Bonneville Power Administration with ratepayer revenues. BPA markets power generated in the Columbia basin's 31-dam federal hydro system.

Under the Power Act, the Council develops the program based on the recommendations of state, federal, and tribal fish and wildlife managers, and interested citizens. The Power Act requires that the Council review the program at least every five years.